“What’s the big idea?” roared Nash, in an ugly humor. “Now see what you’ve done. You might have killed us!”
“Take some of that for yourself,” rejoined Frank, walking over. “It was your own fault. You tried to run us down.”
“Run you down! I like that! You head straight for us and then say we tried to run you down. You’ve smashed our boat, so you have, and you’ll pay for it.”
“Try to collect!” advised Chet airily. “By rights, we ought to have you up in court. Trying to be smart, weren’t you?”
Both the other boys were bigger than Chet, but this never bothered that boy—as long as some one was with him.
“Absolutely deliberate, wasn’t it, Tad?”
“You bet!” said Carson. “The young brats drove right at us. If they had hit us we might have been killed.”
Their cool effrontery amazed the Hardy boys.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” snapped Joe. “Trying to lay the blame on us. It serves you right to have your boat smashed up. You would have smashed ours if we hadn’t been lucky. After this, watch where you’re going.”
“Look here!” said Ike Nash truculently, doubling his fists and stepping forward. “I won’t stand talk like that from you.”